“We’re in a partly Berlusconi moment where….the spectacle of politics has taken over. And again, the big themes of conflicts of interest, of hiring family, of kleptocracy….It’s a debasement of civic life, of the tone of politics, of everything.”

Quote from an interview in Background Briefing with Ian Masters podcast on Berlusconi-Putin and Trump-Putin. The interview explores how America under the vulgarian Trump is beginning to resemble Italy under the scandal-plagued Berlusconi.

August 15, 2018